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Every classroom has some students who are struggling with academics. What can we do for such students? (I wrote this for my team of teachers through my weekly mail, Kindle Sparks.)

Identify the students who are struggling in the Grade and Section you teach. How will you identify them? The obvious method is to zero in on those who are failing in the subject. Do each one of you have to take care of every such student? Not really. If the class teacher and the subject teachers have an understanding, we can beautifully share the responsibility of such students – with the result that each teacher needs to mentor may be 4-5 students or even less.

If CAT4 scores are readily available, it is a great help. The Cognitive Abilities Test, also known as CAT4, is used to identify both a student’s academic potential and challenges. CAT4 is divided into four batteries – verbal, non-verbal, quantitative, and spatial ability. Look at their stanine scores. Anything below 5 is a matter of concern – the student could have one or more learning disabilities. A Standard Age Score (SAS) of anything below 100 too merits closer attention. If the scores – Stanine and SAS – are above the 5 and 100 respectively, but still the student is failing, there is every chance that the student has not been motivated to learn. It is up to us as teachers to identify these patterns that emerge and alert us via CAT4. If the Grade has not done CAT4 this year, no issues. Get the concerned student’s CAT4 results of the previous year as they are valid for 2 years.

Give individual attention to such students. They will really thank you for that. Talk to them and understand what their difficulties are. In many cases you will find remarkable improvement, the moment you start paying attention to them. They will know their teacher cares for them and would go to any length to please you.

Garner parental support. It would be a great idea to speak to the parents of such students to understand their home environment, study habits and the like. In many case when students gain the trust of their teacher, they will blurt out many home truths. Be a patient listener and never make assumptions or judgements.

What we say in the classroom has a great impact on young minds. Encourage them and they will rise to your expectation. If not, they will not only hate you but also develop a hatred towards your subject. No student deserves to go through this. So use words with care. Make your students love you and a love for your subject and the irresistible desire to make you happy follows. That is the power a teacher wields.

Never show your likes and dislikes in the classroom. One constant refrain that we hear when we speak to students is that there is “partiality”. Once that word goes amongst the student community teachers will have to really struggle to change that opinion. It’s only human that smart students will be favourites of teachers – but it is wise and sensible not to display it. Apply the same yardstick to all.

Poor attitudes also lead to poor academic performance. Lack of motivation is seen in many students. If you are a class teacher, you can really make a difference. Subject teachers too can make the difference – but a class teacher gets some time with her students on most days. So her impact can be more than that of subject teacher. Besides as teachers we need to walk our talk. We must be motivated and full of vigour and enthusiasm. Our students will simply imitate us.

Poor habits also result in poor learning. One key issue bogging many young students in today’s connected world is social media. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Snap Chat and Netflix rule their lives and they get addicted to FOMO – “Fear Of Missing Out”. Posting indecent pictures, befriending strangers and becoming victims to cyber bullying and online predators follow. As adults and teachers we have to be alert to this. Dipping grades can be a surest sign of this and similar distractions. Also note that such students live in a world far away from reality. Do note if a student is looking sleepy in class – it could be on account of spending time on social media without sleeping. Another barometer is their perceived self-esteem and self-confidence. Young girls, especially teens tend to compare themselves with others, feel low and depressed because they are not as tall, fair, beautiful or smart as someone else. Many a time, they don’t even know that the pictures of their idols or models are digitally enhanced to make them look tall, fair, beautiful and smart. No love for oneself and the resultant lack of self-esteem can lead to chronic depression, self-harm, and even suicide. We need to educate our girls to start loving themselves, as they are. Well, there’s a movement out there called F.L.Y. – First Love Yourself – for, if you can’t love yourself, how can you expect others to love you? Another important habit worth cultivating is impressing on students to get 7-8 hours of sleep. Research has shown that it is during sleep that our learning gets stacked in the brain for retrieval.

Some students are simply anxious about tests. They will answer in class and will seem actively engaged but you may find nothing in the answer paper. Educate such students to understand the concept and study. Memorizing results in short term memory, whereas understanding and learning will contribute to long term memory and retrieval.

Many students have no clue how to study. Talk to them about a specific place at home to study. Never study sitting in the bed. Underlining while studying is a classic sign of you trying to fool your brain by pretending to be engaged in study. Better is to make points, cover it with a sheet and then try to retrieve answers from understanding. Help them make a study plan. Tell them it is always better to study in small, manageable chunks. When a student finishes one chunk, there is a sense of achievement. That will egg them on to do some more.

The bottom line is if we as teachers care about the relational aspect of teaching, we can establish a trusting and caring connection with our students. Then they will become more receptive to what’s being taught. When we get to know our students’ likes, dislikes, interests, talents, needs and home environs it helps us prepare differentiated lessons and helps students feel the partnership of the learning experience. Cheers!!

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While doing my MOOC with Coursera on Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence*, Prof. Richard Boyatzis, the Course Instructor shared with us a host of videos that were inspiring. Of it all, the one that captured my attention and being was that of a YouTube video on Under Four Trees – a school that was started by Mrs. Zikhali for a small community in Nkomo Primary School in rural KwaZulu Natal, Mnqobokazi, South Africa. The amazing project is sure to leave you inspired. Do watch this link below – and if you are in the field of education, this is a must watch.

To me it focused on two things:The power education can wield even making the poorest of the poor, rich.Passion for what one does can convert all of the problems into possibilities.

Two wonderful lessons. It is not that these are eureka moments – it has always been there. However, when one sees the fruits of the events through videos and films, it conveys home a very strong message, and encompasses you with an unshakable faith that there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.

When Nomusa Haslot Zikhali, the Principal, reached Mnqobokazi to start the school, she was flabbergasted. There were no buildings. No resources. Just a wild field replete with undergrowth and bushes. The challenges were too many. Inclement weather. Rains that would make the stream they had to cross overflow with water. Crocodiles in the stream. Dust laden winds. Parents wanting their children to look after cattle or even younger siblings. And that was when she decides to move closer to the community and set up the school. She had to go from home to home in the community to impress upon them the need to educate their children. Her passion to educate these children weighed high than the troubles and travails.

In spite of that, in January 1999, there were just 10 children ready to join the school. And where was the school started? Under Four Trees!!! Each class – Classes 1 ,2, and 3 were allotted one tree each and the fourth one was Mrs. Zikhali’s office. As an educator, I am ashamed to say that I would have given up and just left the place for greener pastures. I am sure 99% of us educators would have done that. But not, Mrs. Zikhali. She persisted. And converted every problem into a possibility. The government did send other teachers to start the school, but they all gave up. Mrs. Zikhali on the other hand took the challenge head on. Thus from a one-teacher-220-student school, Nkomo Primary School has moved into another league now: 900 students and 23 teachers. Eight classrooms. And plenty of support from Africa Foundation to raise money for infrastructure.

Another challenge Mrs. Zikhali had to face was the presence of most vulnerable children in her school – whom she calls Child-headed Households, a chilling euphemism for those whose both parents were dead. Her school now has 153 of them – i.e. 17% of the under-13. To persist under these challenging and emotionally draining circumstances requires determination and the keen desire to make a difference in these students’ lives, which she had in plenty. Her inspirational tale of nurturing, educating and transforming has been made into a movie called Under Four Trees by filmmakers Suzanne Cross and John Simpson.

Inspirational Leader

Thank you Mrs. Zikhali for teaching me some very crucial lessons. The best one I will cherish and practice is to convert every problem into a possibility! If we look for solutions we can think creatively and find a way or two. However, many of us look only at the problems and therefore the possibility of a solution is just not there in the vicinity or in the periphery. May your tribe increase and be beacons that will enlighten the path of many educators like me.

[* I wrote about being a fan of online learning vide my post http://bit.ly/18t4aUI. Am delighted to get a certificate signed by Prof. Richard Boyatzis, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio and to have completed it with 84.5%. If you have never tried a MOOC, please do it today! 🙂 ]